Three things were wrong with that. One, it wasn't a turnover. Two, the Cavaliers were trailing by 10 points and were about to be beaten soundly on their home floor. Three, it was a blatant rip-off of Pistons announcer John Mason.

"Man, I told him to get your own material," Chauncey Billups said. "That was terrible."

Pistons trainer Mike Abdenour, Billups and Rasheed Wallace all walked over to have their say to Sedra.

"All he said was, 'I am just doing my job,' " said Wallace, imitating Sedra's deep voice. "I told him to stop stealing somebody else's material. I told him he was making his fame off other people's lines. That's garbage."

That wasn't the only odd thing that happened during the Pistons' 90-78 win. Referee Steve Javie ejected a courtside fan in the third quarter. The fan was badgering all three officials for what he, and most of the Cavaliers players, thought were some missed calls on LeBron James.

Turns out, the ejected fan was a member of James' entourage. He was, in fact, his driver.

Webber factor

Chris Webber is starting to exert himself more on the offensive end. He made 7 of 10 shots, and scored 15 points.

"He's realizing how unselfish our guys are," coach Flip Saunders said. "Sometimes you come into a new situation and you don't want to step on any toes. But we don't have that problem here."

Billups, for one, has been after Webber to look for his shot more.

"That's the good thing about this -- it's a team," Webber said. "Everybody does their job and nobody has to press the issue. We are comfortable with anybody who steps on the floor. Chauncey has been telling me to be myself out there. It feels good."

The offshoot of Webber hitting shots early is that defenses tend to shift toward him, which gives Wallace some easier matchups. Wallace, taking advantage of either Drew Gooden or Donyell Marshall , had 15 points, hitting 6 of 15 shots.

"They are so much better with Webb," James said. "Offensively, when Ben Wallace was there, you could kind of relax on the offensive end when he was on the floor -- though you had to be scared of his offensive rebounds. But now they have five guys that can easily score 20 points. It's very difficult."

Suspension pending

Even though the Pistons escaped without a technical foul Sunday, Saunders is resigned to the reality that Rasheed Wallace is going to miss one game -- and probably several more -- due to suspensions resulting from his technical fouls.

He currently leads the league with 14. He will draw a one-game suspension when he reaches 16, then another for every second tech thereafter.

"There's nothing we can do about it," Saunders said. "He understands the situation. The positive is the play of Antonio McDyess and Jason Maxiell . It's always going to hurt us to lose Rasheed. But I feel confident other players will step up."

Slam dunk

The Pistons will not be seeing Paul Pierce Tuesday when Boston comes to The Palace. Boston is being cautious with Pierce, out the last 22 games because of a stress reaction in his left foot.

dirt_dobber

02-05-2007, 10:52 AM

this quote in the middle of the story is interesting..........

That wasn't the only odd thing that happened during the Pistons' 90-78 win. Referee Steve Javie ejected a courtside fan in the third quarter. The fan was badgering all three officials for what he, and most of the Cavaliers players, thought were some missed calls on LeBron James.

Turns out, the ejected fan was a member of James' entourage. He was, in fact, his driver.

.

TripleDipping

02-05-2007, 11:26 AM

Hah, I was watching the game on TV when it happened. Hey, one corny courtside announcement deserves another.

Flacolaco

02-05-2007, 11:46 AM

all PA men in the NBA are a beating.

Especially Humble Billy. The fans shouldn't need a verbal prodding to get excited.

DevinHarriswillstart

02-05-2007, 03:29 PM

all PA men in the NBA are a beating.

Especially Humble Billy. The fans shouldn't need a verbal prodding to get excited.

The fans in my section sure do. They need to put their javas from The Mansion away and cheer for the f-in team. I agree they shouldn't need it.....and it wouldn't happen if they all were standing up and cheering.

4cwebb

02-05-2007, 08:30 PM

I much prefer Humble Billy to all of the canned soundbites and scoreboard clips that are shown...if only we could choose between one or the other.

rakesh.s

02-05-2007, 09:09 PM

hahahaha, deeeeeeeeetroit TURN-OVER...that's good stuff.

nothing irks me more than that idiot in detroit that yells deeeeeeeeeeeetroit basketttttttttttttttttballlllllllllllllll